Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The linked article is an editorial from ign.com regarding the recent addition to the Metroid franchise, Metroid: Other M. While not personally a fan of the series, if the editorial bears any resemblance to the truth then this iteration represents a serious mis-step.Other M spends an inordinate amount of time tying the protagonist's character to her femininity, something that is out of step for a series that used the revealing of the character's gender as a surprise ending in one game.

I feel that this is relevant to our ongoing dialog about the role of female protagonists in Science Fiction. It is interesting that, in a period where women in genre writings are receiving the spotlight, a franchise with a strong female lead would take a step in the opposite direction. Apparently, the protagonist has access to all of the powers/armors she needs in the game from the start... but is unwilling to use them until the male romantic interest explicitly orders her to do so.

1 comment:

I must admit, I haven't played through the whole game (I have just seen one of my roommates play bits and pieces), but, as I understand it (and how he explained it to me), Samus (the female protagonist) didn't choose to not use her power but they were restricted by the government/organization she was working for. I got a gender-neutral vibe from the what I saw, but, again, I wasn't around for the whole thing.